Round 5, Game 14: Kramer vs. Sharp

T1: Jim opened with Qhis usual Barents in 2 giving up 2 POC to John. Allied LBA scored no hits in Italy. The POC count is 5 to 3 Axis, game score is +2 Axis.

T2: The Allies send the 5 R-class BB’s and Glorious to the NA, 5 BB’s, 3 CA and 2 CV to the NS and 2 BB, a CA and Eagle to the SA. The Barents gets Hood, Ark Royal, 4 CA and
passing their speed rolls, KGV, POW, Repulse and Renown. The Axis sends 4 U-boats to the SA and the LBA to the Barents. The German and Italian fleets make no aggressive moves. All combat rolls
cause no damage. The POC count is 3 to 3 with no game score change and the blockade of Germany in place.

T3: No USSR BB is available for this turn. Barents deployment has 3 CA, Hood, Formidable and Victorious. All speed rolls are passed with KGV, POW, DOY, Repulse, Renown and QE
getting thru. NS has 7 BB, 4 CA and Ark Royal, SA 4 R-class BB and Eagle, NA has Convoy 1A, a CA and Glorious and Courageous. The Axis again hold back their fleets sending 5 subs to the SA. The
LBA are placed in the Barents (axis) and Italy (allies). Again all combat die rolls result in no damage. There were 3 subs disabled by ASW. POC count is again 3 to 3 with no game score change and
the blockade of Germany continues. Convoy 1A moves on to the Barents.

T4: Allied US/USSR rolls see NY and Tuscaloosa come on board. A Russian BB is available but accidentally does not sail. In the NA 2 UK CA’s join the 2 US ships. The SA has 3 BB,
2 CA and Eagle. The NS has 8 BB, 2 CA and 3 CV. The Barents has Victorious and Ark Royal, Hood, Convoy 1A, 2 CA, the 6 BB/BC heavies from T3 and Anson which passed the speed roll. Convoy 2B does
not sail. Both Axis fleets again stay out of combat with 7 U-boats going to the NS. LBA make strikes as in T3. Allied ASW sinks 2 subs and disables 4 more but the blockade is broken. The
remaining U-boat hits Formidable but only causes 1 point of damage. Allied LBA again miss all targets. Axis LBA disable Victorious and hit Ark Royal but as with the sub, only for 1 point of
damage. The Convoy is missed and gets thru to Russia. POC count is 6 to 3 allies with game score now +1 for the allies.

T5: Allied US/USSR rolls sees Washington join the fray. The Soviet BB’s are not available. With the NS now open I did not feel safe with trying to control the Barents this turn.
Leaving QE to contest the Barents and redeployed the allies to guard the 3 point POC areas (NA, SA and NS). NS has Renown, KGV, POW and DOY move in from the Barents with POW failing speed. They
join 4 BB, 3 CA and Victorious, Illustrious and the damaged Formidable. The SA has Nelson, Howe, 5 R-class BB, 4 CA, Glorious and Courageous. The NA has Repulse, Anson and the damaged Ark Royal
make speed from the Barents to join Rodney, Hood, Eagle, the 3 US ships, a British CA and Convoy 2B. The Axis sends the Bismarck, Tirpitz and the Graf Zeppelin to the Barents and 7 U-boats to the
NA. The remaining German ships cruise the Baltic and the Italians again hold the MED. Axis LBA attack the Soviet BB’s in port. Allied LBA again does no damage to the Italians but ASW rolls clear
the NA, sinking 4 of the U-boats. Axis airstrikes, both LBA and CV have no effect. In Barents surface combat QE is sunk but does inflict 4 points of damage on Bismarck. POC count is 5 to 3 axis
with game score flipping back to +1 for the axis. Convoy 2B will move on to the Barents.

T6: Allied US/USSR rolls have Texas and Wichita arrive and O.R. available for use. Allied deployment has the NA with the 5 US ships, 3 R-class BB and the damaged Ark Royal. The
SA has 2 R-class, 3 CA and Eagle. The NS has 6 BB, 3 CA and the carriers Glorious, Courageous and Formidable. All speed rolls to the Barents are successful so 5 KGV BB’s and 2 BC join Hood, 2 CA,
CV’s Victorious and Illustrious and Convoy 2B. Convoy 3C stays in port. The Axis have the Italians stay in home waters again, repair Bismarck, sail the remaining Germans against O.R., use the LBA
in the Barents and 6 subs in the NS. Allied ASW makes a clean sweep of the NS with 2 subs sank. Also the allied LBA finally scores in Italy sinking Fiume. Axis airstrikes are again not effective
and O.R. is sunk in the Baltic without any damage to DKM forces. With Convoy 2B getting thru, the POC count is 7 to 3 allies. The game score now flips back to the allies at +3.

T7: US/USSR rolls see the last US CA, Augusta, committed. Marat is not available. Allies deploy as follows. NA has the 6 US ships with Convoy 3C and the damaged Formidable. SA
has 3 BB, 2 CA and the damaged Ark Royal. NS has 8 BB, a CA and the carriers Glorious, Courageous and Eagle. The Barents has the 5 KGV BB’s, 2 BC, Hood, 5 CA and the CV’s Victorious and
Illustrious. The Axis keep the Italians again in the MED. The LBA goes to the Barents with 5 U-boats in the NA. The full German fleet, 2 BB, 2 BC, 3 PB, 3 CA and the Graf Zeppelin, join combat in
the NS. The Baltic is not patrolled. In ASW fire 2 subs are sunk and 2 disabled. The surviving sub disabled Convoy 3C. In airstrikes both LBA missed their targets. The allied carriers managed to
disable 2 German PB (Graf Spee and Lutzow). The German CV missed on her strikes. Surface combat round 1 sees the allies damage Bismarck (1), Tirpitz (5) and Gneisenau (5). Disabled were
Scharnhorst, Adm. Scheer and Prinz Eugen and sunk were Adm. Hipper and Graf Zeppelin. Axis return fire sink Barham and Warspite and disable Valiant, Rodney and Nelson (1 damage). Round 2 combat
has the allies with 3 BB, a CA and Eagle. The Axis has 3 damaged ships and a CA. In combat the allies only manage to sink CA Blucher. Axis fire sinks Royal Sovereign and Royal Oak and disable
Malaya. With 3 carriers at risk the allies retreat. Bismarck pursues Eagle but only disables her. The POC count for the turn is 5 to 2 axis. The game score goes to 0.

T8: The roll to deploy Marat is unsuccessful. Allies deploy as follows. NA has the 6 US ships, a UK CA, Convoy 3C and the damaged Formidable. SA has 4 BB, 3 CA, Eagle and the
damaged Ark Royal. NS has Rodney, Nelson (1d), Revenge, Hood, 4 CA and the carriers Glorious and Courageous. The Barents has the 5 KGV BB’s, 2 BC and the CV’s Victorious and Illustrious. The Axis
sail the 3 Italian CA to the SA as the MED is covered. The 4 remaining U-boats go to the NA. The crippled Gneisenau holds the Baltic. The remaining German fleet, 2 damaged BB, a BC, 3 PB and a CA
attack the NS. LBA are of no consequence this turn. If the Axis can stop the allied patrols in any area the game is won. In the NA, the allies ASW clear all 4 U-boats from the area. Area held. In
the SA, allied airstrikes sink a CA. Surface combat sinks the rest. Area held. In the NS, allied CV strikes again disable 2 PB (Graf Spee and Adm. Scheer). Allied surface combat round 1 has
Lutzow sunk and Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen disabled. Both Bismarck and Tirpitz were missed. German return fire sinks Hood and a CA, Nelson is disabled and Revenge takes 3 points of damage. For
round 2 the 2 German BB’s will face 2 BB and 3 CA. Suspense is ended when both of the German BB’s are disabled. With Convoy 3C getting to England the POC count for the turn is 5 to 3 allies. The
game score goes to +2 allies, adjusted by the bid to +0.5 allies for a very close allied win.

John and I have played WAS many times. This was quite an interesting game. We both played conservatively and a change of a couple of die rolls here and there would have changed the entire flow of
the game. As the allies I had to retreat at times to defend board position and save fleet units for later. In the end a couple of lucky rolls on T7 and T8 gave me a close win. Most notable to me
is the T7 disable of convoy 3C. With the convoy forced back to the US, it was available for ASW on T8 in the NA. If the convoy had got to England on T7, or moved to the Barents on T8 into danger,
John’s 4 subs may have found a better chance to break control in one area.

FINAL GAME RESULT: Allied 8-point victory - Allies win by 0.5 POC (after the bid) at the end of Turn 8.